


Little Girl Lost

by PrecariousSauce



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Children, Gen, Headcanon, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 17:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18298940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrecariousSauce/pseuds/PrecariousSauce
Summary: Between May 16th and June 15th, V finds a survivor in Red Grave City.A verysmallsurvivor.





	Little Girl Lost

**Author's Note:**

> I have no real justification as to why this exists beyond the fact that I had an idea and decided to run with it as far as it would go.

Shadow’s teeth and claws tear through flesh like paper. Griffon’s lightning pierces through and burns the enemy to ash. Nightmare’s fists pound the demons into a pulp of blood and meat.

V isn’t paying attention to any of that. He does his part, he finishes the enemies off, but once that’s through he returns to scanning the battlefield. The demons swarm like bees when they catch a whiff of a survivor– it’s, unfortunately, been the easiest way to find those few who haven’t been drained by the Qliphoth. The demons had been all over this dead-end street, packed so tight you could walk atop them like an extra layer of pavement. For so many demons there had to be just as many humans. He’s found bodies, many torn to shreds, just as many pierced by roots, but no one alive just yet.

He knows the chances are slim. But he can’t give up until he’s certain.

He finishes off the last demon and stands as swiftly as he’s able, pacing a circle around the battlefield as Griffon grouses, “Oh _come on,_ V, look around! The only survivors left–” V hears something faintly, beneath the squawk of Griffon’s voice “–here are us! Let’s get goin’ already, we’re burnin daylig–!”

V holds a hand up; “Quiet.”

Griffon’s feathers puff out; “Are you _shushing me?!_ You little–!”

V glares over his shoulder and repeats, more forcefully this time, “ _Quiet,_ ” and that shuts Griffon up.

He hears the sound again, clearer this time. It’s reedy, hoarse, and and terrified. V turns towards its source.

His breath stops.

At least a dozen petrified people are piled on top of each other, arms and legs hooked together, forming a nigh-impenetrable dome. Through a gap between two sets of legs he can see a tiny figure, huddled in a ball. It’s hair is a brown made muddy by muck and grime, with torn ribbons tangled in it. It’s wearing a mangled and stained dress, and it’s missing one little shoe. It’s curled in a ball, face to the ground, hands over it’s head like it was no doubt taught to do in the event of an earthquake.

It’s not an “it”. It’s a “she”. She’s a little girl.

V feels his chest squeeze in a sudden, paralyzing terror, as he realizes he has _no idea_ what to do.

Griffon comes flapping down closer to V’s head; “Oh _crap…_ I mean, she’s probably fine in there, right? She’s _real little_ and I can’t really carry her _gently_ and you can’t carry her _at all_ so–”

Griffon kvetches in V’s ear, but V’s eyes keep tracing their way along the dome– _no,_ the _people, V,_ the _people_. A dozen people, a dozen human lives, all sacrificed willingly and without hesitation for just one. Perhaps two of them had been her parents, but that leaves ten more who died for a stranger’s child. They hadn’t known that their bodies would keep shielding her, keep her hidden, even in death.

Not for the first time, V wonders how he ever thought humans were weak.

He walks forward slowly, carefully. When he’s a foot away from the dome he kneels down and knocks on the pavement just inside the entrance. The little girl’s head snaps up. Her green eyes, bright with tears, dart all around before settling on him. She lets out a shriek and goes scrambling back, not stopping until her back hits another set of legs. She looks this way and that, and when she finds no other exit than the one he’s right in front of she curls up again, like a hedgehog trying to hide behind its spines.

V ignores the jolt in his pulse and sets down his cane so he can hold his hands up, open and empty; “It’s alright– I’m not a monster, I’m here to help. My name is V. What’s your name?”

The little girl doesn’t answer. Instead she just starts sobbing quietly into her knees. V bites the inside of his cheek and reminds himself that this could be going much worse– at least she isn’t _screaming_.

“I’m here to take you somewhere safe,” V continues, holding a hand out to her, “Will you come out, please?”

The little girl scoots further to the left, trying to break line of sight. V is used to feeling useless, but not quite like this. Just as he’s contemplating breaking open the dome he gets a clear look at the decal on the front of her dress. It’s an image of a black cat, with rounded ears and red eyes.

For once in his life, V’s actually gotten lucky.

He puts on a smile and asks, “That’s a very pretty dress. Do you like cats?”

That gets her brow to furrow and her face to screw up in confusion, which is progress enough for V.

“I have a cat,” V remarks, “His name is Shadow, he’s a _very_ good cat. Would you like to meet him?”

The little girl doesn’t say anything, but she does tilt her head to one side. Even more progress. V’s tattoos ripple, and Shadow comes unspooling off of V’s body. The panther looks around, confused at the lack of demons to fight, but the little girl’s face lights up. Actual, genuine progress.

V strokes Shadow’s side, asking, “Would you like to come say hello? He’s a very nice cat, he only bites monsters, _not people_ ,” and V makes sure to give Shadow a pointed look. It’s not like Shadow has a _choice,_ but it’s best to set expectations early.

The little girl crawls warily forward and tries reaching through the gap in the dome. Her arms aren’t long enough to touch Shadow. For a moment she looks like she’s going to squeeze out through the small opening before she flinches back.

V offers her a hand once more, murmuring, “It’s safe, I promise.”

She pauses for a long moment. The little girl’s mouth sets in a determined frown, and she wriggles through the opening. V helps her through, making sure she doesn’t get stuck, and guides Shadow over. The little girl reaches out tiny hand out to the panther’s nose. Shadow sniffs her hand experimentally, gives V a _look_ from the corner of his eye, then headbutts her palm with a low purr. A huge smile blossoms across the little girl’s face. It’s like she’s forgotten everything, where she is, what’s happening, all of it.

She starts to pet Shadow’s head, and her voice comes out in a tiny whisper, “He’s so soft…”

V nods; “He is. He’s also very strong, and very brave. He protects me from the monsters. I have more pets that protect me,” he holds out an arm that Griffon alights upon, “This is my bird, Griffon.”

Her eyes go wide and she shrinks against Shadow, but she mumbles, “Does he talk?”

V grins over at Griffon; “I don’t know, do you?”

Griffon shoots him a withering glare and snaps, “This is _demeaning,_ V. The second this is done we’re forming a Union and striking for better treatment.”

The little girl giggles into Shadow’s fur. Griffon’s feathers ruffle. V pets him to smooth them back down, pressing perhaps slightly harder than he has to. Griffon keeps his grumbling under his breath. He gets the picture.

“I have one more pet named Nightmare, this is what he looks like,” V continues, holding out his hand and forming a tiny model of Nightmare in his palm, “He’s _much_ bigger than this. Hopefully you won’t need to meet him.”

The little girl’s smile falls; “He looks scary.”

V dispels the model with a low chuckle; “Yes, he does. But he’s really very nice, and he’s the strongest pet I have. Now, I can take you somewhere warm, with food and clean clothes and a place to sleep, but we need to leave now. Will you come with me, please?”

The little girl looks up at Shadow, who purrs even louder in response. She looks over at V, who tries very hard to keep his smile on his face and not betray how hard his heart is beating. After a moment that feels like an eternity, the little girl reaches out and takes his hand.

V lets out a sigh of relief; “Thank you very much.”

As he starts to stand, the girl’s hand clinging to his like a barnacle, he does a bit of mental math. Griffon was right about not being able to carry her gently, and flying around in the talons of a giant bird would get her screaming and crying loudly enough to attract every demon in a square mile. Having her ride on Shadow’s back is also out. They’re going to run into opposition on their way to the edge of the quarantine zone and Shadow needs to be up close in the middle of the danger. Nightmare… No.

V takes a deep breath and hoists the little girl up into his arms.

Griffon _immediately_ starts squawking; “ _Whoa whoa whoa V!_ I know she’s not big but you’ve got toothpick arms right now! We gotta go _far,_ you can’t carry her the whole way!”

V grits his teeth, doing his best to ignore how his arms are screaming at the effort of holding this tiny child; “The safest place for her if something happens is with me. There’s no other option. If you could scout ahead, that would be greatly appreciated.”

Griffon turns away, growling to himself, “Look who’s being all _polite_ now, of course you’re just trying to look good in front of the _kid_ ,” before soaring off the way they came. V follows him on foot, taking measured breaths and shifting the girl’s weight to give his arms half-second breaks every few minutes. The girl hooks her arms around his neck and presses her cheek into his coat.

“You never did tell me your name,” V remarks, hoping conversation will get his mind off the strain.

“Katy,” she murmurs.

“It’s good to meet you, Katy. Do you live in Red Grave City, or are you from somewhere else?”

She shakes her head; “We were on a trip, then the big tree showed up and the monsters came, and we were running, and–”

V reaches up to pat her back; “I understand. I’m sorry that happened. Is there anyone who can take care of you back home?”

She shrugs; “Maybe my granny…”

“What’s your grandma like? Do you like her?”

V learns quite a bit about Katy as he navigates through winding backstreets and alleyways to avoid as much conflict as he can. She’s in first grade, she likes math and singing and drawing pictures (even though a mean girl in her class named Evelyn says her pictures look bad), she likes pizza and strawberries and ice cream and _hates_ green peppers, her family has a cat named Buster, and when she grows up she wants to be an orchestra conductor or a train conductor or any kind of conductor because “conductor” is a cool word.

V smiles and tells her he also wanted to be an orchestra conductor when she was her age– either that, a concert violinist, or a philosopher.

Katy’s brows furrow; “What’s a philosopher?”

“Put simply, it’s someone who asks questions and thinks for a living.”

“That doesn’t sound hard.”

“I suppose it isn’t.”

Katy kicks one of her legs absently; “What are you now?”

“For the moment, my job is saving the people stuck in this city.”

Katy brightens up and chirps, “So you’re a superhero! Do you have a team like the Avengers?”

V has to stop in his tracks at that statement; “I… Actually, I suppose I do. Most of them are hurt right now, so my pets and I have to fight in their place while they get better.”

Katy bounces a little in his arms and V has to bite down a wince; “What are their superpowers?”

V has to think carefully as he answers; “Well, one of us has access to many magical weapons, one can shoot lightning from her hands, one has no powers but is very good with guns, and the youngest among us used to have a special right arm that gave him many special powers before the monster king took it from him.”

Her jaw drops open; “They _took_ his _arm?_ How do you take an arm?!”

“I hope you’ll never have to find out.”

“Yo, Super Babysitter,” Griffon crows, swooping in to circle above them, “We got a chokepoint comin’ up. It’s packed full of demons, and all the ways ‘round are clogged with roots. Sun’s goin’ down– we gotta speed this shit up!”

V sighs through his nose. He had a feeling his luck wouldn’t last.

He maneuvers Katy so he can look her in the eye as he says in a low, even tone, “Katy, I’m going to need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say, alright? There are going to be monsters up ahead, and I’m going to have to fight them. I need you to hold on tightly to me, and keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them. And if I set you down somewhere I need you to stay there and _not move_ until I come get you again. Do you understand?”

Katy freezes up, eyes going wide; “But don’t your pets protect you? Why do you have to fight?”

V pauses for perhaps longer than he should, as he’s not sure how to explain a concept he only half-understands himself to a child that hasn’t yet learned division.

He settles for, “I can’t let them do all the work by themselves, can I? That wouldn’t be fair. I help them, they help me.”

Griffon lets out a surprised guffaw that V does his level best to ignore.

Katy stares into his eyes; “But… You could get hurt…”

V hopes his smile doesn’t look as fake as it feels; “I know. But I’ll make sure that _you_ don’t.”

Katy doesn’t say anything. She presses her face into the crook of V’s neck. V sucks in a breath and strides as purposefully as he can after Shadow and Griffon. He’s not sure how quickly he’ll actually be able to move while holding a child, but at this point he’s made a commitment. He has a duty to see this thought.

V’s worries prove very, _very_ prudent. Darting in to finish enemies and out again is taxing in a normal fight, with an extra forty-five pounds shivering against his side he feels like he’s moving underwater. Shadow can carry them both just fine when V needs to dodge on the ground, but he doesn’t even try to use Griffon. He has to twist around and catch some glancing blows on his back to make sure they don’t hit his charge. V summons Nightmare not because he needs the extra strength, but because he needs cover to duck around a corner, lean against the brick wall, and take as many shuddering breaths as he dares.

He jumps back in to finish the last of the demons without setting Katy down. Nightmare’s one eye looks between V and the child with intent, a questioning tilt to his headless torso.

V shakes his head; “No, it’s best if you don’t carry the child. She frightens easily.”

Nightmare stares at him a moment longer, but returns to his tattoos without complaint. V doesn’t have any more time to catch his breath, so he pushes forward. He only tells Katy that she can open her eyes once he’s put a city block between them and the site of the battle.

The second she looks up, she asks, “Are you okay?”

V does his best to talk around labored breaths; “I’m fine. Don’t worry, we’re nearly out.”

That’s a bit of an exaggeration. The distance they need to cover _wouldn’t_ be far under normal circumstances, not for V anyway, but it’s still several more city blocks then a long stretch of suspension bridge before they hit the current barricade line. Which is assuming they haven’t had to shift any further back since the last time V actually managed to get some survivors out, or the bridge hadn’t been overrun by roots like the other bridges out of the city, or that the bridge was even still _intact_. All very optimistic assumptions, V knows, but _someone_ has to be optimistic around here or nothing’s going to get done.

V can’t help a wry smirk at the idea of _him_ being _optimistic._

Katy peers at him in that way children have where they seem to be seeing far more than they should; “I can walk, you don’t have to carry me if you’re tired.”

The child herself telling him to stop gives him pause, but it’s pause he swiftly sets aside; “It’s safer and faster this way. Your legs are much shorter than mine, Katy– no offense meant, of course.”

“But… you’re _really tired_ …”

V brings a hand up to rub her back; “I’m always tired, Katy. I can handle it.”

“Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you tired all the time?”

V purses his lips; “I… I am… sick.”

Her grip on his coat tightens; “You shouldn’t be running around. You should be in bed eating soup and drinking orange juice and sleeping so you can get better.”

V surprises himself when that makes him chuckle; “I wish that I could, but unfortunately that won’t make me better.”

“What will?”

V walks in silence for several steps, pausing at a dilapidated crosswalk out of muscle memory; “My condition is… tied to the monster king. Once he’s defeated, I’ll be… better. Or, at least, I can start getting better.”

“You don’t know?”

“… No. No, I don’t. My condition is… unique. I may be like this for the rest of my life, however long that is. I could be cured. Or… I may…”

Katy’s voice comes in a thready whisper; “Will you die?”

V stops in his tracks.

He thinks for a moment.

“… I might. I don’t know. No matter what happens, I just want to be sure I don’t die without regrets.”

“What’s a ‘regret’?”

“It is… Something you feel sad about in the past, something that happened, something you did, or something you didn’t do.”

“… I think I have one.”

V’s brow furrows; “You do?”

Katy’s voice is muffled by the leather of V’s coat; “I didn’t tell my mommy and daddy I love them.”

V’s throat aches and his eyes burn, but there’s a bridge to cross, and the sun is nearly behind the horizon. There’s no time for tears. There’s never been time.

V tightens his hold on Katy and murmurs, “Neither did I.”

Griffon swoops down, gliding beside V’s head; “We’ve got trouble on the bridge.”

“Unsurprising.”

“Fu– Screw you it’s ‘unsurprising’! We’ve got some _big_ nasties up there, and _lots of ‘em!_ We need to back off, wait until morning or something, there’s _no way_ we’re getting through like this!”

V frowns and talks through his thought process; “If there’s a swarm on the bridge, they’re likely trying to ram the barricade and push it back. It stands to reason that if they’re left to their own devices they’ll push it back at best, break through at worst. It stands to reason that if _that_ happens it leaves the bridge wide open to be overtaken by roots or demolished. So it stands to reason that our only option is to break through _now_.”

Griffon makes an inhuman _noise_ of frustration; “Has anyone ever told you you’re a single-minded, stubborn, _suicidal_ little _jackass?!_ ”

V smirks over at Griffon; “ _Please_ watch your language. We have a _lady_ present, let’s do our best to be polite.”

Katy giggles weakly and Griffon grumbles, “Yeah, sure, _fine_ – I’ll show _you_ impolite you little–” Griffon trails off into unintelligibility as he soars ahead.

The closer they get the better idea V has of what they’re going up against. Just as Griffon said, the bridge is teeming with demons, many of them above V’s pay grade. They’re moving with purpose, surging away from the city center and towards the barricade en force. It looks, and for the most part _is_ , bad. But it does give them one advantage. The swarm has it’s back to V.

The idea is a bad one. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t even consider it.

But the little girl in his arms is filthy, tired, and starving. The sun is going down. They’re _so close_.

V whispers to Katy, “Close your eyes and hold on tight.”

He raises one hand in the air and snaps.

Nightmare goes charging through the swarm like a derailed freight train. Those who aren’t trampled are knocked away and into the ocean. V leaps onto Shadow and slides along in Nightmare’s wake, keeping as close as he can to the giant. He keeps Griffon behind them, launching barrage after barrage of lightning at the demons that try to come at them from the back. V can’t help a tiny, manic laugh as he imagines what this has to look like from the outside. Probably something like bowling a strike.

The strike reveals itself to be a seven-ten split when a Riot comes whirling in from the left flank, claws grasping for Katy. V’s body moves on instinct and he spins to take the blow across the spine. The blow slams into him with more force than he anticipated and he goes flying through the air– V ignores calling back his familiars in favor of curling around the child, absorbing as much of the shock as he can. They bounce and roll several feet before coming to a stop.

V forces himself to his feet despite his entire body screaming at him to just lie on the ground until the heat-death of the universe, but doesn’t stay up for long. The Riot comes barreling in after him and V has to drop to one knee, taking another strike on his shoulder blades to keep it from skewering Katy. V rolls away, narrowly missing a strike from a Hell Caina’s scythe– he doesn’t have the presence of mind to give his familiars any commands more advanced than _Get over here,_ so that’s going have to be enough.

V loses track of what’s attacking him and just starts reacting. He’s ducking blades and claws, skittering around feet, rolling, tripping, sprinting whenever there’s room, and all the while ignoring every urge to pull any of his familiars back to his skin. It’s draining his strength with every second they’re out, Nightmare especially, but he can’t afford to give these demons an inch. An opening the size of the eye of a needle is all they’ll need to grab the girl.

V’s vision starts to tunnel. His breathing is louder than the screeches and screams from the legion around them. His legs feel like jelly, his lungs like burning coals. There’s no time. There’s _no time_. V starts taking more blows than he dodges. He has no idea where his familiars are at this point and has forgotten that he needs to care.

V blacks out to the sound of Katy whimpering in his ear.

 

V’s shaken back to consciousness by the abrupt feeling of talons grabbing his arm and dragging him up so violently it dislocates his shoulder.

Reflex kicks in and V feels himself flail wildly as he shouts, “ _FUCK!_ ”

Griffon’s voice draws him the rest of the way back to the land of the living; “ _Please_ watch your language, V, we’ve got a _lady_ present!”

V blinks rapidly and scans the battlefield. Shadow is missing, but Nightmare is in the middle of the melee, knocking waves and waves of demons out to sea. Perched on his back, clinging to V’s cane, is the tiny form of Katy.

V’s breath catches and he hisses, “Bring me down, I need to–!”

“Keep your vest on, you _proved_ you can’t be trusted in the shit,” Griffon snaps, “Besides, I think she’s doing a _great_ job!”

V’s brows furrow, his eyes narrow, but he quickly sees what Griffon means. Katy’s little hand is pulling the cane this way and that, moving Nightmare around the bridge and jerking it back to make the great giant’s fists swing out to land massive blows. V’s grinning without his own permission– she _is_ doing a great job. At the very least, she’s not doing any worse than V when he has to do the same thing.

V looks up to Griffon and asks, “Did you tell her how to do that?”

“Gave her the basics, but she barely needed ‘em! Kid must play a lot of violent video games!”

Griffon circles the battlefield a few more times, giving V just time enough to gather what meager strength he has to summon Shadow. The panther descends upon the swarm with a deafening roar, cutting swathes through the throng. V leaps down to Nightmare, Griffon swoops down to pick up Katy with only a small yelp from the girl, and V yanks the cane from Nightmare’s back. He’s still too exhausted to quite make _short_ work of the demons beaten within an inch of their lives, but they die all the same.

Once the last of the swarm has been sent back to Hell and V’s recalled Shadow and Nightmare, Griffon drops Katy at V’s feet. V’s not even a quarter of the way through his apology before Katy grabs his wrist and starts dragging him further down the bridge, towards the bright lights of the barricade.

“Come on! Come on come on come on, we gotta go!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming. At least let me carry y–”

Katy shakes her head so hard one of her torn ribbons comes loose; “No, you’re sick and you’re hurt! I’ll keep you safe, so don’t worry! Just go!”

V opens his mouth to protest further, but closes it with a weak grin; “Well, you’ve done very well so far. Lead the way.”

When they get close enough to the barricade to see the forms of soldiers through the spotlights, V has to wonder what they must look like. A tiny girl leading a sickly man by the hand as he struggles to stay upright would certainly give _him_ pause. Soldiers do start sprinting up to meet them, and V uses his cane to force himself upright. He can’t have them trying to take _him_ back to an aid station.

Once they’re a yard away V takes a breath and scoops Katy up again, closing the distance so he can hand her off; “This girl’s parents have been killed, she’s in your care now. Protect her with your life.”

One of the soldiers reaches out to take her on instinct before he looks between the girl and V with a puzzled expression; “You’re– What are _you_ doing in the city, we have to get you–!”

Katy shouts over the soldier, “No! You have to come too! He has to come too, he’s sick and he’s hurt and–!”

V reaches out and pats the top of her head; “I’ll be fine. There’s still more people stuck deep in the city. When the monster king’s defeated and I’m better I’ll come see you again, I promise.”

Katy looks between the barricade and V, big green eyes brimming with tears, before throwing her arms around him in a hug. V freezes up.

When was the last time _anyone_ hugged him?

“Don’t die,” she whispers.

V tentatively reaches up and returns the hug with one arm; “I won’t.”

He’d like to stay longer, but he can hear the soldier telling V that he _has_ to stay here and get medical attention, so he pulls away. With one last smile, he holds an arm up. Griffon grabs his hand with his talons and lifts him up, soaring back towards the city center.

As they fly, Griffon remarks, “Some _big_ promises made there, V. Sure you can keep them?”

V lets out a breathy laugh; “We’ll have to see, won’t we?”


End file.
